Gracilaria parvispora

Thallus succulent, coarse, bushy, greenish, brownish to dark-red, 30(–90) cm high, brittle when fresh. Main axes usually percurrent, to 3.5 mm width. Branching sparingly irregularly alternate, the last orders usually unilateral, commonly to three orders. Main axes and branches commonly compressed. Branches not constricted at their bases. In open sites plants sparsely branched (to 1–2 orders). In transverse section, cortex composed of 1–2 layers of small roundish cells, heavily pigmented in the outermost layer; medullary cells large, 150–250(–350) μm diam., thickwalled, 2–3 to 10 μm. Tetrasporangia numerous, in main and laterals axes. Cystocarps spherical to flattened, sessile, 2–3(–5) mm in diam. Attachment by small holdfast, to 1 mm diam. Growing on rocks, stones covered with sand in lower intertidal and upper subtidal, in sheltered bays and opened shores.

Central America (Baja California), Japan, Korea, Pacific Islands (Hawaii).